Two friends pour a drink and make a pact: 2026 won’t be another year we watch from the sidelines. We set a no‑regrets tone and mean it, digging into the everyday choices that create momentum—returning the call, sending the honest text, booking the trip, and shaping work so it serves our lives instead of swallowing them.

We get real about family: bridging gaps with cousins we only see at weddings and funerals, planning an Edinburgh graduation around complicated calendars, and scheduling monthly time in Hilton Head to show up on purpose. The thread is connection without burnout—how small, consistent gestures build deep ties. On the work front, we unpack a practice owner’s associate-hiring detour and the long slide toward a managing role that scales, plus a six-month hospital renovation sprint aiming for Center of Excellence status. It’s leadership, operations, and exit strategy with both feet on the ground.

Parenting lands with the heaviest punch. We talk about the fleeting window before kids leave home, the shift to adult-to-adult conversations, and how to prepare for the empty nest without rushing it. Along the way, we wrestle with tipping fatigue and the cost of dining out, rediscover the joy of cooking, and laugh about local growth—new restaurants, airports expanding, endless roadwork. We even peek at midterms to come and the sci‑fi feeling of living past the years we once saw on movie posters.

If you’re ready to trade vague resolutions for tangible moves, this one’s for you. Press play, then tell us the one bold step you’ll take this week. And if our brand of honest, funny, and practical hits home, follow the show, share this episode with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a five-star review to help others find us.